RESORT 2012: THE BIGHEADS ARE BACK!

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Oh, I just couldn't resist the lure of a Big Head post! What better way to celebrate my favourite looks from the Resort 2012 collections, I ask you?  It is a bit "look at me" as so many blogs and fashion editors columns are these days but Susie Lau, Lisa Armstrong, Jess Cartner Morley and Polly V have so much fun starring in their own personal fashion shoots, why not join in? This way I get to be skinny and jump around a lot in nice clothes without lifting more than a few fingers on photo-shop (well, ahem the Fashion Junior does that, so I can't lay claim to the effort). I've been confined to bed all week due to a rather unexpected turn of events so have had ample time to peruse the resort SS12 collections and formulate exactly where fashion is going. Here are my top ten personal picks.

Max Azria

The easy cotton shirt, tracksuit-ish trousers and little retro looking pumps are so SS12. Trust that sporty vibe

Celine

Phoebe is still leading the pack with her work. Love the trilogy of shirt, trouser and sporty jacket in an all over wallpaper print on black.The sporty track jacket is delicious.

Celine

Mmmmmmmmmmm.... Makes me want to break out  my copy of White Women by Helmut Newton

Gucci

I am a confirmed fan of Frida Giannini's work.Think what you like about that, as I'm not your cookie-cutter Gucci girl. This dress is proper great. I'm also in the market for a Gucci handbag. I haven't bought a designer bag for over a year because I cannot find anything I like enough.

Kors

This outfit has my name all over it, except the shoes. NO to them. I still love pink trousers, a year after first seeing them

 

Preen

Thea, Justin? Remember when I saw you the other night and said I loved your Resort coll? Well, this is my favourite outfit. OK?? (Mel, stop fantasising)

 

Vuitton

Marc has been doing patterned pajama's at Vuitton for a while. A lot more people are doing them now (Celine, Jonathan Saunders, Thakoon, Gucci to name a few) but his are still my favourites. I could do with a pair of these now, for looking stylish against the pillows, and enable me to pop up for yet another blood test looking cool)

Jason Wu

This guy is fast shaping up to be my second favourite New York designer

 

Lanvin

This is luscious

Lanvin again!

If you're going to buy a jumpsuit, this one with a matching turban has to be the ultimate. Looking at it makes me dream of the social events I might attend in it, and the things I would get up to and sod that its white. 

Photos: style.com

THE WEEK IN FASHION 13TH JUNE-17TH JUNE

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large
Additional research by Bethan Holt

Here's our weekly round up of the goings on in fash-land over the past five days. While most of the fashion press have been obsessing over the resort collections (more on those to come!) these were the news stories that caught our eye this week.We kick off, fittingly, with a quote from the High Priestess herself...

1. Famously anti-tech Anna Wintour gave the perfect five word acceptance speech for Vogue's People's Voice Award at the Webbys: "Sometimes geeks can be chic." Got it in five, Anna - and come on, like we didn't know that already!


2. The fashion hackers have struck again, and it's Beyonce (in kinky Vuitton) vs. Christina  Aguilera (in, well, not a lot) on the leaked covers of this month's W magazine

 3. Alexandra Shulman stepped into the ring for the racism in fashion debate, following the recent racism related lawsuits involving Naomi Campbell and Cadbury and Rihanna and Gucci. In response to Liz Jones' claim that the industry is 'inherently racist', Shulman pointed out: "There have always been black players on the scene — at the moment look at the stylist Edward Enninful, make-up artist Pat McGrath and [models] Jourdan Dunn, Liya Kebede and Joan Smalls, who are at the top of the tree."The Vogue Editor also hinted that she has two black cover stars lined up for future issues - Michelle O, perhaps?

4. It has been a week for campaign releases, as Tom Ford poses with Lara Stone in his new make up shots
...

 

Lara and Tom try to out 'good face' each other in the Tom Ford makeup campaign

5. ...while Angelina Jolie poses in Cambodia (birthplace of her son, Maddox) for Vuitton 's core values campaign

6. Jess Cartner-Morley declares this the summer of intentional bad taste fashion, all thanks to a Prada banana

Prada SS11, and the banana skirt that started it all...

7. Aggy is back in the business! Everyone's favourite leggy blonde Agyness Deyn has re-signed with her old agency, Select Model Management, and is hoping to stage a comeback. Shouldn't be too tricky when you look like this...

Aggy shot by Tim Walker for the May issue of Vogue. Beautiful!

8. What  has Stefano Pilati been up to while his mate Kate was on her hen weekend on the Isle of Wight? Designing costumes for a new Harold Pinter production, of course! With Kristen Scott Thomas taking the lead in The Betrayal, this will be one dramatic fashion statement.

9. You thought the V&A Vivienne Westwood exhibition had covered it all? Well, now her iconic shoe designs have an exhibition all of their own

 The Gillie shoe, most notorious for bring Naomi down to earth with a bump!

10. Mulberry have had a very, very good year, reporting a 69% increase in revenue.Those cute woodland creatures from their last show are obviously hiding some savvy business sense..

 Mulberry Resort 2012. They don't just do handbags, y'know. It's all about the doggy RTW.

11. A very dapper Jonathan Saunders deservedly picked up Designer of the Year at the Scottish Fashion Awards - even though the win took him by surprise, having just been "texting Chris Kane saying 'Sam Cam's wearing your dress, you're definitely going to win it!'"

 Designer of the Year Jonathan Saunders picks up his SFA in a trendy teal tie.

11. Following the news that K-Mid's wedding dress is going to go on show at Buckingham Palace, across the pond, the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame have included Gaga's infamous Meat Dress in their 'Women who Rock' exhibit. Thankfully, the meat has been preserved so that the now well-past-it's-sell-by-date flesh dress won't pong out the exhibition! Tasty.

 

12. Stella Tennant presented the Devonshire Cup at Royal Ascot (she's related to the historic English family). On Ladies Day she was sporting a brilliant trilby avec taxidermy birds, designed, of course, by Stephen Jones. Only Stella and Stephen could make dead birds look this good! 

Stella Tennant and Stephen Jones during the design process for Ascot's chic-est headgear. Photographed by Robert Fairer

13. And finally, over the past five days we have continued to be baffled and bewildered by Bip Ling's blog posts and Tweets. A choice example from @BipLing:

"YUPP having a great holidayyyyyyyy SHUVS AND FOREST ARE GREAT FUN YAR YAR YARRR LOVE ITTTT :-) BOOM BOOOM xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

What?! Does anyone speak Bip and can help us out?!

And that, fashion fans, is the week that was...

Images: Catwalking, Vogue UK, Style.com, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, US Vogue.

ARE YOU FEELING MOD? I AM

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large
Additional research Bethan Holt

Last week we explored aspects of Teddy Boy style. This week we delve into the even more influential-for-now Mod style...

Incidentally, British high street fashion retailers have reacted to the Mod influence shown in pre-fall and catwalk collections for Autumn/Winter 2011, so be prepared for an onslaught.


The Mod and his Moped were inseparable (image from 60smodfox.blogspot.com)

 The Mods (i.e. Modernists as opposed to Traditionalists) can truly lay claim to having permanently changed  the British cultural landscape. Their key stomping ground was Carnaby Street where they would all meet up on a Saturday to spend their hard-earned cash on sleek Italian tailoring and Parkas to protect said tailoring as they sped about town on their most important accessory- the moped. The shopping destination of choice was John Stephen's 'His Clothes' from where trends were dictated. Here is Stephen himself telling us his key pieces for the wannabe Mod.  Particularly interesting is his response to the analysis that Mod fashions might be effeminate. For his generation, no, he says: that is the old thinking which he and his peers are seeking to challenge. These sentiments are so key to the events which would come to give that decade its ‘Swinging Sixties’ moniker- swinging from the old school, stiff upper lip to a sexual revolution  which ultimately came to be expressed in the hippie movement.

The Beatles in moddish mode with their sharp suits and chelsea boot/winklepicker hybrids (image from last.fm)

The details here- the contrasting lapel and skinny collar- scream Mod (Celine Pre-Fall 2011)

In 1966, The Kink's 'Dedicated Follower of Fashion' signified just how much the Mod generation had permeated the national consciousness- they had become so big that they were now worthy of a highly public mocking. According to The Kinks, Mods were all 'eagerly persuing the latest fads and trends' and could alter their attire at a moment's notice- 'one week he's in polka dots, the next week he's in stripes'. 

The Mod look has proved a huge source of inspiration for the AW11 collections.To perfect the Mod look, there are several key pieces which your wardrobe must contain. An extremely slick overcoat, preferably of the parka or trench variety, slim fit trousers, crafted using the very latest in Italian tailoring techniques and a skinny collared shirt- the specific colours and patterns would have changed on a weekly basis for the 60s Mod. but for AW11 it seems that Celine's geometric blue will set the standard.

One of the four amazing parkas from Joseph Altuzarra's AW11 collection



The sharp lines of the trench, with it's exaggerated epaulettes, and peep of tailoring in Burberry's AW11 collection
recall the Mod silhouette

Celine's generous and precisely tailored coat from the Pre-Fall 2011 collection is perfect for emulating the Mod's preferred cover-up while also encompassing vibes of the Italian tailoring worn underneath

The perfect moddish shirt- Celine Pre-Fall 2011

 On the shoe front, the Teddy Boys' beloved winklepicker was also a Mod favourite- a chelsea boot or desert boot will also do the job nicely. And finally, it won't fit in your wardrobe, but to carry off the Mod look to perfection, a moped, preferably a Vespa (Italian clothes, Italian wheels) is essential.

A Chelsea Boot try on session (Image from thesongsthatpeoplesing.wordpress.com)

Burberry and Celine are the go-to labels for the AW11 interpretation of the Mod look but be prepared to see plenty of high street references too. The Mod's sartorial signature soon gained a more futuristic and geometric slant. Silhouttes became bolder and colours brighter. This was also when the female Mod look really came into its own, with mini lengths and the Vidal Sassoon five point hair cut . At Balenciaga, there is a nod to this brighter aesthetic but the Italian tailoring and longer length coat still dominates.

Celine's Pre-Fall 2011 trench seems to bridge the gap between the 'classic' mod look and the progression to colour and geometric construction

Balenciaga also showed space-mod influences for AW11

Balenciaga AW11

Images courtesy of Catwalking.com and Style.com

TOBEY MAGUIRE - PRADA MODEL?

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

These just popped into my inbox from Prada. My first thought was 'Tobey Maguire for Prada, really?' Then I clicked into the two David Sims images of Tobey and was seduced by their moody, thoughtful elegance. I've admired Maguire's acting skill since"The Ice Storm" the brilliant 1997 film where he played a teenager, though he himself was 22 at the time. Later on, Spiderman didn't do much to dispel his angsty-teen image, though by then he was in his late 20s. Now 36, and a father to four year old Ruby, he is about to play Nick Carraway, the narrator character in The Great Gatsby, so he is finally playing his own age group. Perfect timing, then, for Prada to get their hands on him.   

The press release tells us that ..."a boxy three-button jacket over a mock turtleneck defines a new Prada silhouette, while sunglasses paired with a buttoned shirt are a fitting nod to the discrete style of Hollywood fashion icons past."

Images: David Sims for Prada AW11.